


Filthy

by hittingdeck



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: "Thanks to good ol' captain jack" will be quoted so help me god, Captain jack - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Magic, Mermaids, Multi, Pirate AU, Pirates, Sirens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-19 07:17:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13699584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hittingdeck/pseuds/hittingdeck
Summary: David never believed Captain Jack Sparrow was a real person until he held a sword to his throat.





	1. david

**Author's Note:**

> The quote good ol captain jack and pirates of the carribean mixed nicely in my brain

The easiest way to describe David Jacobs was “mundane”. On a cooling summer evening, like many nights prior to it, David leaned comfortably against one of the white wooden support beams of his family home. With one leg dangling off the porch, David sat nearly silently, the only sounds being from the turning of the pages of his novel and the occasional crack of the lit lantern beside him. With one hand, he unconsciously chipped at the cover of the book. 

His younger brother, Leslie, along with two of the neighbor children ran around with sticks, playing pirate. Their high-pitched voices didn’t bother David much, nor did the crack of wood on wood as the children fought. Leslie had declared himself to be the legendary (mythical in the eyes of David) Captain Jack Sparrow. 

The creaking of wood behind him drew David’s eyes away from the novel and to the young woman behind him. Sarah, his older sister, had a small smile on her face at the sight of Leslie and his friends. She held two white china plates, and set one on a wicker table for Leslie for later. She set one beside David, and then sat down next to him, smile still playing on her lips. 

“I assumed that I wouldn’t be able to convince you to come inside for dinner.” He nodded and set his book down, replacing it with a white roll from the plate.

“Right you are, I’m waiting to watch the navy ships go by again. I heard a rumour that the Queen has decided to send out more ships to go after pirates, and that they’ll be leaving tonight.”

Sarah sighed deeply, and gestured to Leslie and the others, now pretending to have the youngest of the children “walk the plank” off a plank of wood nailed to a log.

“Leslie seems to like the thought of them. Maybe he likes the thrill of adventure.”

David scoffed, and took a bite of the roll.

“When he grows up he’ll understand what pirates really are.”

“And, dearest brother, what may that be?”   
“Pirates are godless, filthy sinners. They kill, and purge, and steal.” Sarah gently ran a hand over her delicate star of David necklace.

“I think though they do… that, there brave, and interesting. Imagine being able to go anywhere- do anything.” David scoffed again, now peering at his brother as well.

“If pirates weren’t around, father wouldn’t be out a job. His poor leg after that filthy man in that pub…” 

Sarah stood up again, smoothing her baby blue dress out as she did so.

“You may be able to fool mother, father, and yourself, David Jacobs, but you aren’t able to fool me. You say you are happy here, with two feet on the ground, a book in your hands. You claim to be happy working at the weaponry, but I know you. I know you long for the thrill of adventure, I know how the sea calls your name. I know how you wish to stand on the deck of a Queen’s ship. Do  _ not _ use pirates as an excuse for your cowardly ways. “ Sarah turned sharply on her heel, then turned back to take the dinner plate, although it was still full.   
“You hate eating pig, I know, so if mother asks, you ate it, not the dog.” She dumped the plate over the porch, and returned inside. David closed his eyes, and listened to the laughing of the children. David couldn’t be upset at Sarah, she spoke only the truth. Since David was but a child, he was drawn to the ocean. Whether it be weekly fishing trips with his father, going on small boats with the neighbor girl, or simply walking the beach, David felt at home with his feet in water. 

He took the lantern in one hand and swung his body off the porch, ignoring the stairs. He turned to face the ocean to his left, and started walking a familiar path. He passed the Pulitzer’s house, the larger house looming over him, and kept walking to where the grass turned to sand and rock. Years ago, he had found a couple rocks that had a fairly clear view of the sea.It was a favourite place of his. Few people traveled the rocks in this area for fear of falling, but David had so much experience on them he was fearless. He bit  down on the wooden handle of the lantern, making sure the door and knob were facing away from him, and climbed up the rocks with his hands. The big gray rock had a figure already reclined on it, a small lantern next to it. David silently sat beside Katherine, took the handle of the lantern out of his mouth, and placed it to his right, Kath on his left.

She looked at him, a concerned look on her face.

“You’re upset.”

“I just sat down- how can you tell?”

“Usually you at least say hello.”

David shrugged and took his hat off, throwing it to the closest other rock. He unknotted  his cravat and took a deep breath.

David and Katherine had been friends for years. Neither of them ever really fit in. David had always been a quiet kid, interested in education, sticking to himself. He had never played like the other kids, he just read and spoke with the adults and Katherine. Kath herself had been acused of being a witch multiple times. She was the same way he was, and she just loved to write. No one beilived a woman could write what she did, know what she did, do what she did. She wrote under her father’s name, novels about history, science, and the occasional fiction book. They had always found a kind of safe place with each other.

“Just… the usual, y’know?”

Katherine put her hand on David’s hand, and leaned on his shoulder.

“Maybe you should just… go.”

Katherine had always encouraged David to hit the water. He half thought it was because their parents expected to them to marry, but he never voiced it. Kath was usually right anyway.

“I’m too small for the Navy. I tried last year.”

“That was  _ last _ year.”

David sighed.

“Can we please just…”

“Yeah, Jacobs. Go watch your boats.” She nudged him, and passed him a spyglass, and she lay back to watch the stars. The sound of her scribbling words down was one of David’s favourite sounds. He scanned the water, and squealed when he could see the Queen’s men on a Navy ship, leaving for a voyage. Ship after ship left, probably five minutes between the departures. He scanned the horizon, and squinted when he saw something. It almost looked like a ship with all lights off, all dark wood, and what appeared to be black sails waving in the wind.

“Katherine-Kath, take a look at this for me, would you?” She sighed deeply, bending at the waist to look at him. 

“David, I am-”

“I know, I know. Take a look for me, though, please? I’m either crazy or tired or… there is a black ship out there.”

Kath used her spyglass to try and find what he was looking at. She gasped, and stood up on the rock.,

“David! What is that?!”

“Well I don’t know? Maybe a Spanish ship?” She looked down at him, eyes wide.

“Look, Kath,I’m just going to go home. I’m opening the store tomorrow. Goodnight.”

She made an odd noise as he put his hat back on and took his lantern but finally said goodnight to him, letting him go. He slid off the rock and started the trek back to the house. He blew the lantern out and shut the gas off, leaving it on the table that Leslie’s plate used to be on. He slipped into the house, trying to walk as quietly as possible. He opened the door to the room he shared with Leslie, watching as his brother turned in his sleep. David slid into his bed fully dressed, turned onto his side, and closed his eyes.


	2. sand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update! i had a bit of an issue with my laptop this week, as well as having a rough week after getting braces on! So i hope yall enjoy, and expect another update soon-ish !

David awoke to the soft sound of claws on the flooring in the room, and opened his eyes when a wet nose nudged his cheek. Sarah stood by the door, usual playful smile back. “You wouldn’t wake up for me, so I sent in Atticus.” The dog let out a low bark at the mention of his name, making Leslie jump in his sleep. David pet the dog’s tangled, mangy fur, blinking away sleep. Mornings made David wish he was anywhere but where he currently was. He felt gross in his clothes, having slept in the day clothes from before. His body felt like it was one large wrinkle. Sarah whistled and opened the door wider, making Atticus run out to go investigate the sound. She smiled at the boys.

“David, you work in about an hour if father’s timepiece is correct. Go bathe, I’ll prepare a breakfast, yes?”

He stood up and started unbuttoning his vest, nodding while doing so. He tossed the vest over a chair.

“You really don’t need to make me anything, Sarah. I’ll just eat some fruit and a bun and be on my way.” She smiled and nodded, leaving the room just after. David looked over at Leslie, still sleeping, innocent. Times had been hard for their family recently, and Leslie was none the wiser to it all.He knew that their father had been fired after an injury at the bar, but he didn’t know how tight money was. Sarah and their mother had started sewing more, now selling dresses to some of the nearby women, and David had gone from spending his days at the beach to spending his days in a forge shop. 

David stripped to his breeches and grabbed his towel from a hook on the wall. He wrapped it just above his hip bones and quickly left the room to rush to the washroom, praying no one would see his pitifully thin form. The washroom was one of the smaller rooms in the house, and held only what was absolutely necessary. Sarah had already filled the wash basin, one of the most expensive pieces in the house. A small bar of Mrs. Finley’s homemade soap sat on a ragged cloth on the floor next to the bath. David hung his breeches and towel on the back of the door and caught a look of himself in the mirror. His hair was starting to grow out slightly, messy, greasy curls laying on his forehead. The bags under his eyes made his long nose seem to go on for miles. His chest, bare of any hair, was covered in small scars from childhood, and his skin seemed to be stretched just a little too tight over his bones. 

The bath was uncomfortable due to David’s long legs, and the water went lukewarm much faster than he would have hoped. The bath was one of the only places  _ no one _ would bother him, not his parents, siblings, or slightly too nosey neighbor girls. The feeling of being encased in water was one of the most satisfying feelings for him, and for a moment he could forget about the forge, or his probable marriage to Katherine. David left the bath when his fingers started to prune, using the towel on his hair quickly first, and then drying his body. He didn’t even bother looking in the mirror before he left the room, knowing he would just pick and prod at the slight acne on his chin. Leslie had left their bedroom, thank the Heavens, and David got dressed in peace. He wore plain black dress pants, nice black boots, a brown shirt with the collar slightly gnarled and the sleeves rolled up, and topped it off with a hat for his hair to dry on the walk to work. Sarah smiled from the kitchen table, where she was trying to teach Leslie how to read. 

“Take some food, David.” She spoke as he was nearly out of the house. He sighed and turned around to get a meal. He wrapped an apple and bun in a handkerchief. He turned to leave again.

“Wait!” Sarah called after him. He faced her.   
“What do you need, Sarah?”

She rushed over to him and hugged him tightly.

“Try to have a nice day, Dave.” She kissed his cheek, and gently shoved him towards the door.    
The walk to the shop wasn’t, by any standard, a long or treacherous one.  The path was well travelled, and the store was only a few minute’s walk, or a minute’s horse ride, away. David looked at the ocean as he walked, just slightly to the left of directly in front of him. The trees and long weeds framed the sea, making it look even more enticing than it already was to him. 

The lock on the door caught, as it always did. He wiggled the old doorknob until the door opened. He pushed the rough wood, and his eyes widened at the scene in the store. The oven was on, the fire blazing in a controlled way, one that couldn’t have been lit all night. Swords, bayonets, slingshots, all sorts of weapons lay on the sand floor, some broken, some intact, two by the fire glowing in heat. David took three steps into the store, dropping the handkerchief. The door shut behind him, and he took a deep breath. Maybe Robert, the owner of the store, had just gotten drunk and passed out making weapons. David went to the oven and pulled the two swords that were by it away by their hilts, then watched the fire for a second. At least he wouldn’t have to light one today. He opened  the back window, the bright day lightening up the room quite a bit. David decided that he would clean the weapons off the ground first then see if his boss was on the inside balcony-like second floor. He slowly made his way around the room, picking each weapon up and hanging them up by the hilt or bottom, although it almost seemed like some were missing. By the time the store looked mostly presentable, it was nearly time to open the shop to the public. 

He climbed the creaky wooden stairs to the “second floor” of the building. David looked around.

“Robert? Are you here?” David walked over to the first corner. As he turned to the face the second corner and walk down the hallway, something pulled him back by his pants. A cold item pushed its way flat against his neck, and he felt a warm body behind him.

“”Ello there, boy.” The voice of the man behind him carried an unfamiliar accent, and sounded far too young to be calling David a boy. He squirmed, pushing back closer to the man to get away from whatever he was holding against his neck. 

“Who the  _ absolutely fuck _ are you? Where in the hell is-” The man covered David’s mouth his a gloved hand. “Shush, kid. I ain’t ‘ere ta hurt ya, I just tryna steal from ya.” The man laughed. David bit hard , only getting a small bit of the other’s hand. The man swore, and dropped his weapon from his neck. David scrambled and reached over to grab the closest weapon, a dagger he had been working on the day before. He faced the man, who had a loose smile on his face. He wore clothes that had once been nice, but were long since ripped and mangy. He held his sword in his left hand, the right hand on his hip. “Sit down kid.”

“No, you filthy pirate.” The man laughed, and dropped his sword, black metal glistening in the low light. He leaned casually against a bannister as if they were old friends.

“You got spunk.”

“I have a job on the line and obviously my life as well.” 

The man’s smile faltered a bit.

“I ain’t gonna kill, I ain’t never killed, jus’ wanted ta scare ya away.” He shrugged.

David dropped his defensive pose and placed his dagger on the table he had gotten it from.

“Who are you?”

The man smiled again, and stood to his full height. “Ya haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?”

He chuckled and bowed low to David.

“Captain Jack Sparrow, at ya service.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you liked it,, please leave a kudo or comment, i value them so much!  
> if you ever want to chat or anything, find me at  
> tumblr- hittingdeck  
> instagram-hittingdeck  
> wattpad- diddlediddle
> 
> and hey,  
> thanks

**Author's Note:**

> hmu at
> 
> tumblr- hittingdevck  
> insta- hittingdeck  
> wattpad- diddlediddle


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